Sunday, December 06, 2015

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT EAST OF WICKENBURG AZ.

HORSE RANCH SOMEWHERE EAST OF WICKENBURG ON RINCON ROAD

How nice this mornings pre-dawn sky with a quarter Moon so close to the planet Venus. Jupiter & Mars are still visible as well & Monday morning check out this EarthSky site to see what is happening in the early morning & daytime skies. Yes, the night sky is still up there during the day & to sharp eyes Monday the planet Venus will be visible in a blue sky.

ENJOYING A McDONALDS SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE SOMEWHERE EAST OF WICKENBURG

A NICE HILLTOP CAMPSITE AT SOPHIE’S FLAT TRAILHEAD

Well, what to do today. It didn’t feel like sitting around the house was an option so Pheebs & I were not long in getting ourselves into the Jeep & out the gate. Had a grocery list in my pocket anyway so we headed off to Wickenburg & made our first stop at Safeway. With a big whack of people in church Sunday mornings it’s always a good time to go grocery shopping. Forty five cases of peanut butter, 38 cases of honey plus a few other odds & ends:)) No jostling in the isles & no big long line-ups at the cashier. I was in & out of there so fast I almost left my shorts behind.

SOMEWHERE EAST OF WICKENBURG BEING VERY CAREFUL NOT TO GET ANYWHERE NEAR THOSE TEDDY BEAR CHOLAS

LOOKING SOUTH

From Safeway we re-traced our wheel tracks from a drive we did a week or so ago. McDonalds for a couple Burritos & a coffee to go. Out Constellation Road to Blue Tank Road & hung a left. Bit of high cloud cover today so desert colors weren’t quite popping as well in the diffused sunlight. No matter, it was just nice to be out by ourselves with windows down puttering along up & over down & around the desert’s dusty roads. Haven’t washed the Jeep once since we arrived here over a month ago & with all our desert drives it just makes no darn sense to do so.

IT’S HORSE COUNTRY OUT HERE AROUND WICKENBURG & THIS LARGE STAGING/CAMPING AREA IS FOR FOLKS TRAILERING THEIR HORSES HERE FOR TRAIL RIDES

THE SOPHIE FLATS HORSE TRAIL BEGINS JUST TO THE RIGHT OF THAT FOREGROUND POST

WICKENBURG IS STRAIGHT AHEAD DOWN THERE IN THAT VALLEY

Made our way along the dry sandy floor of Arizona’s Hassayampa river for a mile or so before arriving at the same stop sign on Rincon Road we did last week. Instead of turning left into Wickenburg we headed off to the right in search of where Rincon would lead us. We passed many ranches through this valley section & I was surprised to see so many of them for sale. Seemed unusual to me & begs the question ‘why are so many ranches for sale all at the same time. I’m wondering if their close proximity to the Hassayampa River might have something to do with it. I seem to recall hearing about some severe flood conditions last summer & the Hassayampa River has a history of destruction in the Wickenburg area.

THE DRY HASSAYAMPA RIVER BED CAN BE SEEN MAKING IT’S WAY TOWARDS WICKENBURG

A 300mm TELEPHOTO VIEW OVERLOOKING WICKENBURG WITH THE VULTURE MOUNTAINS ON THE HORIZON

Continuing our drive northeast of Wickenburg we finally came to another stop sign in the desert. I had a pretty good idea where we were so turned left in a westerly direction & sure enough 15 minutes later we reached highway 93 north of Wickenburg. We were exactly where I thought we would be on a road called South Scenic Loop Drive. Being only a mile from the Congress turn off to highway 89 we were soon on our way home & rolled into our driveway about 12:45. Had been another nice relaxing exploratory drive through the desert landscape. I like the fact I’m getting to know these desert roads better.

Quiet afternoon spent reading & I’m still enjoying Straight On Till Morning: the Biography of Beryl Markham. The movie Out Of Africa takes place at a time Beryl Markham was romantically linked with the stories main true to life character Denys Finch Hatton played by Robert Redford. I have never seen the movie but now reading Beryl Markham’s biography & how she played an integral part in Denys Finch Hatton’s life leading up to the time of his death due to a tragic plane crash I would be interested in seeing the movie.

JUST WATCHING THE GREAT SOUTH-WEST SCENERY ROLL BY

About a week ago the rear driver’s side window in our Jeep Liberty began making a bad noise & the window had trouble going up or down. We did manage to pull it up higher by hand but today the window sunk down into the door & refused to come up when the window button was pressed. That problem combined with a second problem in our Jeep’s heater control where the fan only runs on it’s highest speed & not the previous 3 speeds has forced us to make a decision. When we researched & read reviews on 07 Jeep Liberties last Spring we did read a lot of Jeep owners were having problems with windows. I remember reading what the problem was & know that It’s something not easily fixable. Because of that we will call the Jeep dealership in Wickenburg Monday morning & to make an appointment to get that window problem fixed as well as the heater fan problem. I’m always leery about taking a vehicle to a dealership because of the high shop rates & parts prices but at least the Jeep mechanics will be familiar with & have had experience with repairing those troublesome Jeep windows.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A few tongue twisters tonight::

There was a fisherman named Fisher who fished for some fish in a fissure. Till a fish with a grin, pulled the fisherman in. Now they’re fishing the fissure for Fisher.

I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn’t have thought so much.

A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies

I saw a saw that could out saw any other saw I ever saw.

Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said “this butter’s bitter! But a bit of better butter will but make my butter better” So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter, and it made her butter better so ’twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter!

Black bug bit a big black bear. But where is the big black bear that the big black bug bit?

A big bug bit the little beetle but the little beetle bit the big bug back.

7 comments:

My birding neighbor brought out his tripod and DSLR as Kathy and I were looking at the planets and crescent moon in a line across the sky before Sunrise this morning. I may do the same tomorrow, 6 degrees outside with clear sky right now. Should be the same at 5am burr.

I take my Sebring convertible to the dealer for repairs, seems everyone else makes a problem worse.

Hi Al, we were checking out the boon docking around the Congress graveyard his afternoon. We noticed you sitting on your front porch but didn't honk cuz we didn't want to scare you off your rocker. Your little homestead is so lovely and tranquil. Especially like the night time photo of the house in today's blog. Becki

Love that ranch entrance with the horses! We crossed the Hassayampa coming to Tempe and can't imagine it flooding its banks - it's huge, at least in this area. Thanks for the bloggerfest info. We're in Q until the 21st so will have to extend our stay a couple days! Great photos of the abode at night.

We had a great time at Alamo Lake State Park, about 38 miles North of Wenden..in the middle of nowhere!! Not sure how far that would be for you to drive..Hey, you remember what happens "when Jupiter aligns with Mars..It is the dawning of the age of Aquarius!"

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 5 of them and use all 5.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a Nikon D7200 sporting a new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100 which now carries my Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4.5-6.6 lens. I use this camera & lens for most of my candid people photos, birds, animals, bugs & flower close-ups.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.

-My Canon Powershot SX210iS is a point & shoot camera which I carry in a case on my belt everywhere I go.-My older Canon Powershot A720iS is the camera that sits close to my recliner for most of those doggy living room photos.